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How Onesies Are Like Pasta

Please forgive the poor quality of my photo. It was taken late last night when, overwhelmed by the task of packing, I had succumbed to the distractions of my iPhone. If you can make out the details of the picture you’ll see piles of baby clothes spread across my bed. I imagine you might be thinking “Wow. That’s not too bad for an 11 day trip.” Or maybe you’re laughing because you know I’ll need more than one suitcase for all those clothes. What you can not see are the four bags laying on the floor and all the gear already loaded into the car. That’s right. This is everything still waiting to be packed after I’d run out of space.

I’ve always enjoyed packing. I love making lists ahead of time so I can check items off as I tuck them into my bags. Think Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. Adding Amelia to our vacations in 2010 meant more gear, more lists (and in my mind) more fun. I think Husband was equal parts impressed and dismayed watching me scurry around the house making piles of “to be packed” items, lists in hand. (After all it was his unfortunate job to load the car once my piles were neatly tucked into their bags).

That was one baby. And that was when we traveled for a few days at a time. Last night I realized my reliable “be prepared for anything” style of packing was not working so well for this trip. Neatly packing our bags quickly turned into stuffing onesies and baby socks into any space I could find. After a few hours I thought this baby stuff is like a never-ending bowl of pasta! At which point I threw in the towel and grabbed my phone to take a picture. Temporarily defeated by bibs and footed pjs, I stayed awake just long enough sweep everything on my bed into a laundry basket to be tackled in the morning.

I’ll be going home in just a few minutes to finish packing whatever else I can fit and then it’s off to daycare to pick up the kids. I think I got all the important items: medicines, diapers, bottles, etc. Do I really need everything else?